7/4

I like the 70's Sun Ra, but also dig the '60's too!

Very nice, but I miss the harp!

October 20, 2004 JAZZ REVIEW Soaking Up the Plentiful Spaces at a New Jazz Center By BEN RATLIFF Some basic impressions of Jazz at Lincoln Center's new space, which opened Monday night: It is a sophisticated, cosmopolitan, fairly expensive-feeling experience; it is flexible and alive. Jazz has so many different connotations for different people. But at least some part of this three-theater complex, taking up the fifth and sixth floors of the Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle, could ring the bells of recognition of someone who had never been to a jazz performance before and only possessed the received wisdom of photographs and album covers: yes, this seems right; this is jazz. And it contains enough attention to detail to impress those who have spent the better part of their lives hearing it, too. Monday's invitation-only opening shows, broadcast live on PBS, are not going to remain in the imagination as any kind of normal night: it was an evening for board members, donors, critics, musicians and those involved with the construction of the hall. And so it is too early to tell what it will feel like as the theaters begin their season-long schedule, with the bigger concerts in the 1,200-seat Rose Theater and the 550-seat Allen Room overlapping with shows in the 140-seat Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola. The Rose Theater, especially, was hard to get a grip on in a first encounter. It was set up as a theater-in-the-round, which won't always be the case, and for the sake of television, the ceiling lights were torching the house. And there's no way that all the different configurations of music, with guests coming and going for every song (among them Abbey Lincoln, Tony Bennett, Mark O'Connor, Giovanni Hidalgo, Cyro Baptista and Wynton Marsalis's musical family) could have been sound-checked to their best advantage. The music itself worked as a statement of purpose: a version of the organization's desired eclecticism in miniature, with a blues, a New Orleans tune ("Dippermouth Blues"), an orchestration of forró music from northeastern Brazil, ballads, Coltrane, Basie and so on. But at certain moments - as when the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra suddenly cut away from the tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano, who played a few unaccompanied bars during his solo in "Body and Soul" - you could hear some of the richness we have in store. His saxophone sound had tremendous depth and resonance, a more intimate sound than we have become used to at Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall, where Jazz at Lincoln Center's concerts had been held since the mid-1980's. For the basic potential of hearing jazz in a theater, it might not get much better than the Allen Room. The Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, 18 musicians on an oval bandstand, set up there for three sets, through more than three hours of music, and they played their repertory, from Machito to new works like Tom Harrell's "Humility." The room is exceptionally well balanced. With only light amplification (and the idea is that some performances in the future will have none), the music was detailed. Pablo Calogero's baritone saxophone came through as well as Milton Cardona's conga drums. And the high windows overlooking Central Park South give another staggering dimension: toward the top of the glass, you see the reflection of car headlights playing on the windows. From the smaller windows behind the bandstand at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, you see half Trump International Hotel and Tower, half Central Park treetops. Bill Charlap played three sets there, a small space with a variety of guests sitting in, including Wynton Marsalis, who played whinnies and melodic inventions through "Just Friends," in front of Clark Terry, stopping by to check out the new place. Adjustments, acoustic and otherwise, are made to nearly all theaters after they open. I've seen some clubs proceed for years in a fairly raw or problematic state. But already these rooms impressively translate into bricks-and-mortar reality how the planners of Jazz at Lincoln Center have raised the stakes for jazz to become visible and powerful in the city. In their thesis, jazz isn't secluded; it's right out there, exposed and imperious, peering over the street.

I nominate the king of who likes those odd time signatures. (Might not get an accurate accounting though.) 2.27% of total forum posts

Still not over it?

Last summer the morons who were supposed to replace the motherboard in my Dad's machine also installed another customer's Win XP on the machine. We had everything backed up but I had them get the data recovery done. Idiots!

I have the records but no turntable and I ordered the cds this afternoon! Too late, oh well...$30 is a lot, but I did see them somewhere else for $7 more.

This is a cronic problem all over the map, not just in pop music.

Wow. A few years ago she sat in with Ravi at Joe's Pub in NYC, I missed it because it was sold out. I'm hoping that she does a bit of touring to support the new album. It would be cool if Pharoah did some dates with her and Ravi. I heard Pharoah, Ravi & Rashied Ali when they played with Tisziji Muñoz at the Village Underground in 2003. But I've never heard Alice perform.

I see the latest newsletter from Forced Exposure lists these two: COLTRANE, ALICE: Huntington Ashram Monastery CD (UCCI 9105). Japanese 24-bit/96kHz remastered CD, in mini-LP packaging. Japanese-only reissue, first ever CD issue. Originally issued by Impulse! in 1969. Featuring: Alice Coltrane (harp, piano); Rashied Ali (drums), Ron Carter (bass). "Recorded after Alice Coltrane met her future guru, Swami Satchidananda, this album shows her spirituality narrowing but deepening the focus of her expression in jazz." Tracks: 'Huntington Ashram Monastery', 'Turiya', 'Paramahansa Lake', 'Via Sivanandagar', 'IHS', 'Jaya Jaya Rama'. $30.00 COLTRANE, ALICE: Lord of Lords CD (UCCI 9110). Japanese 24-bit/96kHz remastered CD, in mini-LP packaging. Japanese only/first CD issue of this 1972 album, originally issued by Impulse!. Recorded and mixed at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, July 5-13, 1972." Tracks: 'Andromeda's Suffering' (Coltrane), 'Sri Rama Ohnedaruth' (Coltrane), 'Excerpts from The Firebird' (Stravinsky), 'Lord Of Lords' (Coltrane), 'Going Home' (Traditional). Produced by Ed Michel under the direction and inspiration of Alice Coltrane. Alice Coltrane: harp, piano, organ, tympani, percussion; Charlie Haden: bass; Ben Riley: drums, percussion; String Orchestra - Murray Adler (concertmaster), Nathan Kaproff, Lou Klass, William Henderson, Ronald Folsom, Leonard Malarsky, Gordon Marron, Janice Gower, Gerald Vinci, Sidney Sharp, James Getzoff and Bernard Kundell : violins; Myra Kestenbaum, Rollice Dale, Leonard Selic, David Schwartz, Samuel Boghosian and Marilyn Baker : violas; Jesse Ehrlich, Jerry Kessler, Jan Kelly, Anne Goodman, Edgar Lustgarten, Ray Kelley and Raphael Kramer : cellos. Music arranged and conducted by Alice Coltrane. $30.00

The straight ahead Pharoah.

Perhaps the tuning knobs are at the other end of the strings?

Ibarra's probably too gentle for her husband (Tsahar) Ex or so I thought.

I will be too. After I'm done with disk 6, I'll be checking out the Cecil disk. And then I have to check the new Alice Coltrane CD that was in the same order. There's a lot to read too, and I'll be getting into that in the coming weeks. And it's nice to find out where Slugs was! It turns out that I was playing quite a bit and hanging out at a coffee shop a block a way 2002-2003 (Chama, a ET/UFO oriented place closed in 9/2003). NYC is so full of history...I love it.

I picked it up at the post office this morning!!!

Should be...it would give me a reason to stop by at JC more often.

looks like great material for a photoshop project.

Wow. I hope she does better. Al: I'm glad it worked out ok!

got it!

Is there a way to vote Wynton off the island?

$3895 Pretty reasonable for a handmade guitar. Very beautiful too.